Bottle cap



Patented Sept. 27, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE BOTTLE CAP Rudolf Krasberg, Chicago, Ill. v Application August 21, 1944, Serial No. 550,409

' 4 Claims. (01. 215-45) The present invention relates to a bottle cap and more particularly to that type of bottle cap which is re-usable and may be used on crown cap bottles which have been opened.

Bottled beverages are commonly sold in bottle having crown caps and frequently it occurs that a bottle of beverage is opened and only a portion thereof is used at a time. In order to preserve the carbonation and to prevent the beverage from becoming fiat, the bottle must be capped and for this purpose it is hightly desirable to use a re-usable type of cap'which readily may be applied to the bottle and removed when needed. Heretofore re-usabl caps have been proposed, but generally they have been designed on the assumption that the necks and tops of the bottles are of uniform dimensions. Such, however, is not the case since during the manufacture of bottles the tops are not absolutely true circles nor are the dimensions held withinclose tolerance limits. The crown cap of course is applied with pressure and the corrugated edges thereof are suiiiciently flexible to accommodate themselves to these differences in dimensions. It, therefore, is desired to produce a cap of re-usable type which will provide an improved sealing action and which will accommodate the variation found in bottle necks and tops.

It, therefore, is an object of the present invention to provide an improved re-usable bottle cap.

It is another object of the present'invention to provide an improved reusable bottle cap which will accommodate the normaL-variations in dimensions encountered inlbottles and which will provide a regulated sealing pressure to securely cap the'bottle.

Other and further objects of the present invention subsequently will become apparentby reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein Y Figure 1 is a side view of a bottle cap constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a crosssectional view through Figure 1 along the line 2-2;

Figure 3 is a top view of the device seen in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an exploded view in perspective of the elements comprising the bottle cap; and

Figure 5 shows a modified form of the invention.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4 of the drawing there is shown the upper neck portion ID of a bottle having positioned thereon a reusable bottle cap constructed in accordance with the present invention. This reusable bottle cap has a cup shaped top member [2 positioned above a cup shaped member M which bears against the disk [6 which in turn is positioned above a resilient gasket member It. The cup shaped top member [2 is provided with depending'side portions 26 having at their lower extremities downwardly facing cam shaped portions 22, as best seen in Figures 1 and 2, which are arranged for selective engagement with depending side portions ofthe cup shaped member I4. The cup shaped member I4 is provided with a central aperture 24 for receiving a central tubular portion 26 of the member I2 which thereupon is rolled over or riveted so as to provide a swivel connection whereby the downwardly extending cup rim 36 of the cup member M. This construction gives the downwardly extending side portions additional resiliency and flexibility for application and removal of thebottle cap assembly to and from the bottle. The member [6 applied immediately within the cup portion of the member l4 may be a relatively thin sheet ofmetal foil or similar metal giving sufficient strength to the central portion of the resilient gasket 18 so'that the pressure of carbonation within the bottle it will not force the resilient gasket" l3 upwardly into the small aperlilre formed by the member 26 of the top member In order to apply the bottle cap to a bottle the upper cup-shaped member [2V is rotated so that the downwardly extending sideportion 2i! and the downwardly facing cam surfaces 22 thereof are out of engagement with the laterally extending side portions 30 of the downwardly extending resilient side members 28 of the inner cup shaped member I 4. The resilient side members 28 therefore are freed so that they may be snapped over the bead 38 of the bottle I0. These resilient side portions 28 grip the bottle sufficiently so that the cap I4 is retained in position on the bottle while the top cap I2 is then rotated so as to cause the cam surfaces 22 to engage the laterally extending side portions 30 of the resilient members 28. Because of the cam shape of the members 22 the cap I 2 may be rotated until sufficient additional pressure has been applied to the laterally extending side portions 30 to cause the cap M to draw the resilient gasket [8 against the mouth of the bottle 10. This cam action of the upper cap member l2 insures a perfect seal of the cap and furthermore accommodates all variations in dimensions of the neck of the bottle. When it is desired to remove the bottle cap, the top portion I2 is rotated so that the cam portions thereof are out of engagement with the portions 30 of the inner cap I 4 and pressure applied to the underside of one of the laterally extending members 30 causes the cap to snap ofi' the top f the bottle.

In order to facilitate ready removal of the bottle cap from the bottle one of the laterally extending side portions 30 of the inner cap member M may have a downwardly extending finger portion 40, as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing, so that it is susceptible of easy engagement with the finger of a hand to withdraw the crimp portion 32 from under the bead 38 of the bottle Ill.

While for the purpose of illustrating and describing the present invention, a certain preferred embodiment has been shown in the drawing, it is to be understood that such variations are contemplated as may be commensurate with the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

This invention is hereby claimed as follows:

1. A re-usable bottle cap for beaded neck bottles comprising a cupped closure member having a plurality of depending resilient members adapted to engage the neck of the bottle below the bead thereof, said depending resilient members having at opposite sides of said cupped member laterally extending finger grip portions to facilitate manual application and removal of said cap, and manually operable downwardly facing cam means rotatably secured to said cupped closure member against axial movement with respect to said closure member and adapted to be moved into engagement with said laterally extending finger grip portions of said depending resilient members upon rotation of said cam means relative to said cupped structure to increase the pressure applied thereby.

2. A re-usable cap for bottles having a beaded neck comprising a cupped closure member, a gasket mounted therein, said closure member having a plurality of integrally formed resilient depending members adapted to engage the lower side of the bead of the bottle and having laterally outwardly extending surface portions, and a manually rotatable cupped member rotatably secured to said cupped closure member against axial movement with respect to said closure member and having downwardly facing cam surfaces adapted to be moved into engagement with the laterally extending surface portions of said resilient depending members to increasethe pressure applied by said resilient depending members to the bead of the bottle therby to press the gas ket against the mouth of said bottle.

3. A re-usable cap for bottles having a beaded neck comprising a cupped closure member provided with a plurality of resilient members adapted to engage the lower side of the bead of the bottle, said resilient members having laterally outwardly extending side portions, a gasket mounted within said cupped closure member, a rotatable cupped cam structure covering said closure member and having depending sides with downwardly and outwardly facing cam surfaces, said cam surfaces being inclined circumferentially with respect to the plane of the top of said cupped cam structure, said structure being rotatably, mounted for movement relative to said cupped closure member whereby said downwardly facing cam surfaces may be brought into engagement with said laterally extending side portions of said resilient members to increase progressively the pressure exerted by said closure member upon said gasket.

4. A reusable bottle cap for beaded'neck bottles comprising a cupped closure member having a plurality of depending resilient members adapted to engage the neck of the bottle below the bead thereof, one of said depending resilient members having an extension extending downwardly with the free end thereof terminating adjacent the body of the bottle to serve as a finger engaging means for readily removing the cupped structure from the neck of the bottle, said depending resilient members having at opposite sides of said cupped member laterally extending finger grip portions to facilitate manual application and removal of said cap, and manually operable downwardly facing cam means rotatably secured to said cupped closure member against axial movement with respect to said closure member and adapted to be moved into engagement with said laterally extending finger grip portions of said depending resilient members upon rotation of said cam means relative to said cupped structure to increase the pressure applied thereby.

RUDOLF KRASBERG.

7 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: a

UNITED STATES PA'I'ENTS' Number Name Date 80,296 Lyman July 28, 1868 796,734 Kirkegaard' Aug. 8, 1905 835,366 Purcell Nov. 6, 1906 848,174 Gebsen Mar.'26, 1907 873,869 Koch Dec. 17, 1907 1,408,910 Simenowsky Mar. '7, 1922 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 1 5,944 Great Britain Dec. 13, 1882 202,215 Switzerland Apr. 1, 1939 

